Star Trek and French Horns

Over the last week or so, I’ve been meeting with the four horn players of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra. They have all been so kind to let me into their homes and discuss their (our) symphony, their backgrounds, their love of music, you name it. I’m so very grateful for that because in getting to know them, I’ve discovered that not only are they talented musicians, but they’re all very nice people I’m so glad to have met.

They’ve also all been good enough to show a lot of patience with my geekiness. Do you know how much the French horn is featured in Star Trek movie theme music? Quite a lot, actually and our horn players were such good sports that two of them even played some for me.

Of course, I only got one of them on video and you’ll have to wait for that until French Horn Week (September 23-27), but check these out in the meantime.

This is from Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country. Listen to the horns about 1:30 in.

From Star Trek: First Contact, they kick in with the main melody around 40-45 seconds in.

From the surprise attack in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, arguably the best of all the Star Trek movies. The horns really add to the drama on this. They kick in pretty early on and are heard throughout. If you want to watch the actual scene, click here. Ricardo Montalban was excellent in this role! Update: Had to make some changes since the original link I had was disabled, so you get the whole scene anyway. Check out those 1982 special effects! French horns start about 30-40 seconds in but get more fun just before the 2-minute mark. Enjoy!

And from the most recent movie, and possibly my favorite, Star Trek: Into Darkness.

Star Trek and French horns – such a great combination! Am I a bit of a geek for putting these together? Perhaps, but it’s all good. So what do you think?